Return to Karak Goranthal

The Return to the Karaks

It’s all right to be afraid of the dark.

Your ancestors knew darkness. They lived in it, in the lightless tunnels of Karak Goranthal, and beneath the surface of the world they crafted a great city. Ancient and majestic, their pillared halls and wondrous treasure vaults were the envy of the civilized races. Year after year, they delved deeper and deeper into the earth, turning stone into artistry and dirt into life.

But all good things come to an end. And in the darkest, deepest delves, your ancestors met something. Something so evil, so vast, that it drove them from their tunnels screaming. They abandoned their great city, left it a lifeless husk, and fled into the wild south marches. They were exiled, with all that once had made them proud lost in the cold wilderness behind them.

Centuries have passed, and now a new generation has risen. The time has come to take back Karak Goranthal. Clan Quartztooth, are now readying an expedition. They have forged mighty weapons. They have crafted mighty armour. They have drained their coffers to create one great hope for themselves and for their lost homeland.

That hope is you.

Your quest is not small. You must journey north, into savage lands that nearly killed your ancestors in their last crossing. You must gather the scattered dwarven tribes, and unite them under one banner. You must enter the lost mountain that held Karak Goranthal, and in its halls and in its tunnels and its abyssal depths you must finally confront the evil that drove out your forefathers.

It’s all right to be afraid of the dark. But the time has come to make the dark afraid of you.

You are from Tor Goran ak Karak Goranthal, Clan QuartzTooth. The elders of your clan have, at last, gathered you back together. You had grown up together but have been trained by masters in your field; some of you perhaps even sent beyond the clan to learn your trade. Your parents have given Birth Oaths that you will be the hope of the clan. Your clan has spent nearly their entire fortune equipping and training you all in the hopes that you will be able to help them reclaim Karak Goranthal. The fear that has been instilled in you since birth of the underground has been lessened by exposure to a small cave complex found near Tor Goran but you know that with thousands of pounds of rock above you and no near escape that it will be difficult to enter the true mountain, but you will try.

Your families are depending on you to gather information and assist in repossessing your ancestral home and your clan birthright. Other clans have indicated that they too have sent small groups to search the mountain and most have not returned. Clan BluePick was the most recent and their younglings have not been heard from since last winter.

The clan council has provided you with very little information about what may lie ahead of you but you have the honor of the clan upon you and your parent’s Oaths that you will succeed where others have failed.

You have been generously outfitted and have been given a map made from the patched together memories of stories told by elders two generations ago. Your first task will be to visit the living ancestor of Tor Kald ak Karak Kaldrak. Gehgrim BronzeHair is the oldest living dwarf among the land dwarves and even he wasn’t present when the dwarves left the mountain. He has gathered the tales as best he can from different clans but his life is failing. When he was younger he took the tales to the various Tor but has been hobbled by age and illness to Tor Kald and his life is near its end. He has begun to lose the oral histories he has learned and has taken several apprentices who have each been able to learn portions of Gehzgrim’s tales but none have learned them all and his telling of them has been going further and further from the mark each time during the retelling so that the remembering of them has become difficult.

The map indicates approximations of certain features of the under mountain but is by no means complete. There are several points of interest and some notes about hazards you may face.

Clan QuartzTooth has sent their children to the best mentors of every class available in order to make the success of their children’s task more likely.